How do you spread thin resources?

Tonight, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter announced cuts that the city is making to cover a billion dollar revenue deficit. HERE

He is laying off 200 city employees and leaving 600 jobs vacant, including 200 police officer positions. No firefighters will be laid off, but he is closing five engine companies and two ladder companies. Members from those units will be reassigned to significantly reduce fire department operations overtime.

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Yesterday, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced that they are laying off 500 employees and allowing another 2,500 jobs remain unfilled when the current employee leaves the position. Read story HERE.

Bloomberg is not starting a 1000 officer police academy in January. He proposes closing five engines in dual (engine + ladder) houses in the evening hours. The FDNY academy school will be reduced from 23 weeks to 18 weeks.

IT IS ALL ABOUT THE CASH FLOW

Municipalities are trying to reduce “cash” expenditures, the direct outlaying of funds. In the Washington DC area, Prince George’s County instituted an eight day furlough affecting 6000 county employees … with disasterous results when applied to the paper-thin fire department operations staff.

Dave Statter has been on top of it since the beginning, including this bad outcome event during the first week of furloughs. HERE

Fairfax County will be furloughing all but public safety employees on January 2nd.

HARD CHOICES FOR PUBLIC SAFETY

Consider four engine companies, each staffed with a minimum of an officer, an apparatus operator and two firefighters. That represents 16 on-duty employees … actually you will need 20 employees to assure that 16 positions are filled.

You are told that there will only be eight available positions to staff the four engines starting next week.

Do you staff two four-person engine companies?
Do you staff three engines, two with a crew of three and one with a crew of two?
Do you staff four two-person engine companies?

It is day three of this reduced staffing, and one of the eight remaining employees goes home sick. No overtime is available and there is no one left to fill the position.

If you decided to run two four-person engine companies, now will you:

Run one three-person engine and two two-person engines?
Run one four-person engine and one three person engine?
Run one seven-person engine company?

I used these type of questions when teaching Fire Officer III, now most of us are living in a cruel economic reality.

I do not think there is a fire chief or budget officer that can beat this Kobayashi Maru scenario. As trekkies know, James T. Kirk cheated when he beat the scenario on his third attempt at the academy.

Earlier blog entries:

Mike “FossilMedic” Ward